DUKES FOOTBALL
The Hillsborough Dukes Junior Pee Wees earned a spot in the Mountain Valley Conference Championship game by winning their final three regular season games. The Dukes finished the regular season with a 7-1 record.
Hillsborough’s first victory in the streak came at the expense of the Montgomery Wildcats. The Dukes kicked off to start the game. The Wildcats started at their own 45-yard line. Montgomery had a few successful plays and converted a first down. The next series saw Cam Adams stuff an end around, Chris Tortarello break up a sweep and Mike Shapiro break up an attempted pass.
The Dukes took over on downs on their own 35. The first two plays netted nine yards and on third and short Ryan Applegate took the snap, pitched it to Brandon VanDoren, who threw a strike to Scot Levonaitis for a 35-yard gain which ended the first quarter.
The first play of the second quarter saw Levonaitis run off tackle, hurdle a tackler and sprint 25 yards for the score. Levonaitis then threw a strike to Eddie Trimpert for the point after giving the Dukes a 7-0 lead.
Montgomery’s next series fell short and they turned the ball over to the Dukes. Adams showed off his speed with an end around run for a 10-yard gain. Trimpert then hit Levonaitis with a nice 35-yard touchdown pass to put the Dukes up 13-0 at the break.
Montgomery attempted an onside kick, which was recovered by Mike Stavratkis of the Dukes. The Dukes’ first three plays of the second half all resulted in first downs – VanDoren for 15 yards, Trimpert for 12 yards and Trimpert again for 14 yards. A penalty on the next play pushed the Dukes back 15 yards which they could not recover from and they turned the ball over on downs.
Montgomery started to drive until VanDoren stripped the ball to give the Dukes a first down on their own 20-yard line. Levonaitis and VanDoren continued to run hard for first downs while draining the clock. Montgomery got one last chance to drive but Levonaitis picked off a pass and secured the victory. The Duke Defense held the Wildcats scoreless, lead by the defensive front of Nick Bongiovani, Stavratkis, Rishab Jain, Cole Lewis and Paul Vecchio.
The Dukes handed their second shutout to the Washington Rock Rockets. The Rock received the opening kickoff and started at their own 45-yard line. The Rock was faced with a third and long on the opening series when Mike Shapiro picked off the Rock’s first pass attempt of the game and returned it to the Rock 48-yard line.
After a failed series by both teams, the Rock started to drive when Trimpert recovered a fumble on the Duke 20. On the first play of the series, Trimpert hit Levonaitis for a 30-yard pickup. VanDoren and Levonaitis combined to drive the ball down the field. VanDoren found paydirt on the seventh play of the drive on a 15-yard run to put the Dukes up at the half 6-0.
The Rock recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff on the Duke 40. The Rock was faced with a crucial fourth and long when Vecchio sacked the Rock for a 10-yard loss. The Dukes drove down the field with great running by Levonaitis, Trimpert and VanDoren with exceptional blocking by Thomas Boland, Vecchio, Josh Prince, Bongiovanni, Zack Lucina, Davian Williams, Matt Gradone, James Esters, Deandre Curtis and Mike Shapiro but came up short of the pay strip.
The Rock took over only find themselves losing yards when Vecchio recorded his second and third sacks of the game. On fourth and long, the Rock had its punt blocked by Vecchio and recovered by Vecchio. Two plays later, Cam Adams punched it in for the Dukes to give them a 14-0 lead and the victory.
The Dukes dealt their final shutout to the Maplewood Wildcats 19-0.
Applegate, recovered the attempted onside kick to start the game. The Dukes started to drive but found themselves in a fourth and long when Trimpert found Levonaitis for an eight-yard pass completion and a crucial first down. Trimpert then found Shapiro for a 20-yard gain down to the Wildcats’ 15-yard line. The drive was capped off with a six-yard pass from Trimpert to Adams. VanDoren hooked up with Shapiro for the point after to give the Dukes a 7-0 lead.
Levonaitis recovered the onside kick to keep the Duke offense on the field. The Dukes continued to drive the ball into Maplewood territory, picking up three consecutive first downs but came up empty and turned the ball over on downs.
Maplewood’s first series resulted in three and out and the team punted. Levonaitis returned the punt down to the 15-yard line before he was finally forced out of bounds. Trimpert connected with Levonaitis on a 12-yard pass to set up a first and goal from the three. Trimpert carried it in himself to give the Dukes a 13-0 lead.
The Wildcats started with the ball in the second half and drove down to the Duke 30 but could not convert a fourth and long. The Dukes took over and Adams ripped off another 15 yards for the Dukes on an end around. On a crucial 4th-and-6, Levonaitis made an incredible diving catch at the 12-yard line to keep the drive alive. Trimpert carried the ball down to the seven and Applegate carried it over for final TD of the afternoon.
The Dukes finished the day with another shutout and a 19-0 victory. A special thanks to our cheer squad, trainers, water boys, equipment manager and team moms for making this an enjoyable and successful season.